Outdoor masking rule for Hawaii public schools divides Kailua community

Confusion and division in the community over whether masks still should be worn outdoors at Hawaii public schools has led some parents at Mokapu Elementary School to launch a petition drive to end the requirement at their campus.

All of Hawaii’s 257 regular public schools currently are still required to follow the state Department of Education’s COVID-19 guidance that reads: “Masks must be worn by everyone — students, staff, visitors and contracted service providers — at a HIDOE school campus or facility when indoors and outdoors.”

When asked about the reasons for the requirement, education department Communications Director Nanea Kalani said in an e-mail: “Correct and consistent masking is identified by DOH (the state Department of Health) as a core essential strategy for school settings. For this reason, the DOE requires masking both indoors and outdoors on all campuses for consistency across the public school system. This requirement has been in place since the start of the school year.”

However, the group of parents and community members at Mokapu Elementary in Kailua point out that the state health department’s latest guidance says that “students and staff do not need to wear masks in most outdoor settings.” Their petition on change.org had drawn more than 400 signatures as of Thursday morning.

The petition’s originator, Maureen Lenzi, who lives at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and has two children attending Mokapu, said in an email that she believes the health department’s guidance ought to take precedence. “The HIDOE has inserted itself into a health-related policy that they have no authority to regulate or modify,” she said.

But health department spokesman Brooks Baehr says his department’s recommendations don’t constitute a mandate for the DOE. The health department combines information from the CDC with local factors, and then “we simply offer guidance” to the education department, he said.

The petition also argues that the health department’s guidance implies that individual public schools have the power to decide on masking rules.

But Kalani said that language exists because the health department’s guidance is meant for both private and public schools. No Hawaii public school is permitted to deviate from the DOE’s COVID-19 guidance, she said.